Current wipe dispensers plague the consumer with various inconveniences such as: drying of the paper towel, lack of continuous feeding of paper towel, the inability of dispenser reuse, the restriction of use with regard to towel types, and the inability of single-handed use. In this patent application, the paper material used in wipe dispensers shall henceforth be referred to as “media”. Originally, wipe dispensers were made to be used once and subsequently discarded. These dispensers commonly used for wiping are designated for either wet or dry use, but not for both wet and dry use. They do not offer the consumer flexibility to create a wet wipe using common household ingredients. Common wipe dispensers do not offer the consumer the option of creating a dry wipe for cleaning purposes. These dispensers also restrict the consumer from using common paper towels for wiping. They typically contain a specifically manufactured towel that fits only into the given dispenser. Wet media containers use media that, over a period of time, will dry and become unusable. Current wipe dispensers often prevent the consumer from using the media in its entirety due to lack of consistent dispensing. Many commonly used dispensers require the use of two hands in order to operate the dispenser. These inconveniences, coupled with the disposable design of common wipe dispensers, necessitate the costly and wasteful purchase of numerous wipe dispensers.
Common wipe dispensers employ a folded, interleaved sheet thus attempting facilitation of pop-up style media feeding. This pop-up style of media which is referenced in patent designator F, S and O has proven to be a flawed method of feeding media. The quality, variability, high production cost and incorrect feeding of the interleaved sheets are problems cited in U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,727 to Irwin, 2002 October. Various attempts have been made to overcome the difficulty that arises when feeding paper media through a dispenser. Over feeding, sheet sticking and tearing are problems that have not been corrected in prior art embodiments.
A limitation is evident when considering U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,200 to Trokhan, 1998 September. Trokhan proposes to correct media feeding with a feature whereby the operator must pull the sheets at a specific angle. This necessitates having the sheets dispensed at only one particular orientation. Examination of U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,200 to Trokhan, 1998 September, reveals only a limited angle of wipe dispensing. Over feeding of media is a common problem with the U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,200 (1998) to Trokhan implementation as attempts are made to engage the feature that should enable sheet separation.
Another solution, proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,820, to Wright et al. (1995) evidences feeding problems occurring in interleaved wipes. Wright attempts to solve the initial feed problems caused by tight packaging. These difficulties include tearing, loss of pop-up feeding, and media distention back into the container.
The wet wipe rigid containers (prior art cited with patent type designators W and R) have a limitation whereby the amount of media available for wiping must not exceed the length of the sheet contained therein. The sheet length enables the interleaved wipe to reach the top of the container. Such a design causes sheet separation inside the container. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,727 to Irwin, October 2002, attempts to address this functional difficulty by keeping the media at a constant elevation. This Irwin patent fails in its attempts to avoid over-pressing the media, inducing tearing of the media, and limiting the media cache.
Nearly all pop-up containers require a friction lid feed opening to separate the wipes and hold the subsequent wipe. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,614 to Haines et al. (2002) is a typical example of high friction dispensers. High separation force is needed to enable media feeding in these dispenser implementations. Such containers have drawbacks including inconsistency in media manufacture, and an inability to provide continuous feeding of media. Bothersome premature separation occurs while causing loss of media feeding.
This limitation does not allow the user to pull multiple wipes, which remain joined to form a larger wipe.
Currently most wipe containers require the use of two hands. These embodiments are indicated by patent designator 2H. An additional encumbrance to individuals lacking manual dexterity is that most wipe dispensers become very light weight as the media is consumed. This results in a loss of upright stability. Disposable containers (patent designator S) and disposable reusable rigid (patent designator R) containers, all lack sufficient mass needed to maintain stability. The force needed to separate and dispense a wipe exceeds the stability of the container. Single-handed operation, as noted in patent designator 1H, becomes almost impossible as the inventory of wipes decreases within the container.
A consistent problem noted in current wipe containers is drying of media. Media drying is caused by at least two endemic design flaws. One such flaw is the lack of a liquid tight seal as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,493 to Julius, 1979 May. Another such flaw is a liquid tight cap that will open upon being subjected to heat. This subsequent opening causes the internal media to become dry. A conical lid opening of U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,514 (1996) to Frazier, causes media drying due to high friction squeezing of the media.
Most wipe containers heretofore known suffer from a myriad of disadvantages including but not limited to the following:
(a) The use of specifically designed media restricts the ability of the media to be composted after use.
(b) Wipe containers currently lack ruggedness.
(c) Current designs restrict the use of a commonly available media.
(d) The wipe containers in present use are not designed to be used by an individual lacking manual dexterity.
(e) Present wipe containers having high-friction, conical lid feed openings, may cause a user to be injured while trying to retrieve, or start feeding the wipe media.
(f) The inability to use a homemade formula for wipe saturation, within most wipe containers, poses a hindrance to individuals with medical sensitivities.
(g) Dispensers currently available are typically restricted to use with only the media contained therein and therefore cannot be refilled.
(h) Viewing of available media and measuring of fluid for wipe saturation are both features which are lacking in current embodiments.